


born again with each sunrise

by elegantidler



Category: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra | Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Trans Character, Trans Erik, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:14:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26168476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elegantidler/pseuds/elegantidler
Summary: Early morning fluff
Relationships: Christine Daaé/Erik | Phantom of the Opera
Kudos: 24





	born again with each sunrise

Christine blinks in the bright sunlight streaming through the windows, her mind still foggy with sleep, limbs heavy.

Erik is still asleep beside her, his breath even and comforting.

She smiles to herself and revels in the happiness that overwhelms her in moments like this.

Christine loves many things about her husband and the life they have made together.

She loves their normal house, with its large widows and its wild garden out back.

She has always loved Erik's intensity, but she loves the gentleness he now feels safe enough to show ever more.

She loves creating music together and the way Erik's hands move he plays; delicate and skilled.

She loves the way his cheeks never scratch when she kisses him.

She loves the way he wakes her in the morning by pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

She loves how soft his chest is when they are wrapped up together and she rests her head on his heart and drifts off to sleep listening to it beat, his arms around her, holding her close. 

She loves that with him she has love _and_ music. 

She loves that he no longer curls away and hides from her when they are in bed together, loves that she is comfortable and safe for him.

She loves that they go walking almost every Sunday. 

(That was the one thing Erik wanted to do above all else, to be able to walk with Christine in daylight like anyone else.

It was also the thing he found hardest to do, so fearful of every slightly too long glance or whispered laugh.

The first Sunday then had gone walking they had only managed to get three doors away before Erik was shaking so badly they had to turn around. He had sunk to the floor and apologized over and over and Christine had sat down beside him and gently placed a hand on his thin arm until he stopped shaking. She had shifted closer and waited until he looked at her and told him they would go as slowly as he needed.

Patience and grace. The twin foundations of the life they are building together. 

It had taken months until they could go walking like a normal couple and even now she would still sometimes feel his grip tighten on her arm as he fought the instinct to flee from someone’s gaze.

She always squeezed back to remind him he was not alone here anymore.)

She loves how, on the rare morning that she wakes before him, she can wrap her arms around him and trail kisses across his shoulders until he stirs awake, and spoil him with affection like he so often does for her.

This morning that she woke first is Sunday and they had slept in. They had been up late last night working on one of Christine’s new pieces and had only fallen into bed well past two in the morning.

Rehearsals for the new performance start tomorrow and as she lays here, watching the dust dance in the sunlight, she decides that she doesn’t want to go walking today, she wants to spend all day in bed, just the two of them, wrapped up in their own private world before everything gets too busy.

Convincing Erik to stay in bed will take some effort however.

She moves so that she is pressed close along his back and wraps an arm around him. She hooks her chin over his shoulder and waits until she feels him stir, then presses a poorly aimed kiss high on his cheek.

“Good morning, I love you,” she murmurs in his ear, and kisses him again.

She knows without seeing that his cheeks have gone slightly pink, like they always do when she tells him ‘I love you’.

He clasps her fingers and kisses her knuckles then moves her hand slightly so that he can turn in her arms and face her.

He leans forward slightly and kisses her lightly on the forehead like he always does in the morning and no matter how many times he does it, it always makes her heart flutter.

“Good morning, I love you as well.”

He glances to the mantel clock behind her.

“It’s late,” he says, “we should get up.”

But he makes no move to extricate himself from Christine’s embrace and instead settles back against the pillows.

“I think,” she pauses to trail he fingers up and down Erik’s forearm, “we should stay in bed all day instead.”

“What would we possibly do in bed all day?” He asks, ghosting a caress over Christine's cheek in return. 

Christine props herself up on her elbows so she can look down at him, her hair falling across her shoulders.

“Hmm, we could…” she leans down quickly and kisses his thin lips, watching his eyes go wide in surprise, “do this.”

Before he can return her kiss she moves her hands to the buttons on his night shirt and waits for him to nod before unbuttoning them and pressing a kiss between the softness of his chest.

“And we could do this.”

She pauses and looks back up at him. His relationship with his body and intimacy changes from day to day and Christine learned to always go slow and give him time to react. He had been patient when she had come back to him, he is patient when her grief for her father overwhelms her and she cannot sing and can barely speak for days, and she will always be patient with him in this.

She is about to ask if he’s okay but he leans up and kisses her deeply and Christine forgets how to breathe for a moment let alone speak.

He breaks off and then presses another small, soft kiss to her lips.

“And this,” he says quietly, half a question, still shy in showing passion, still always surprised that Christine is eager to accept.

“See?” Christine says as she leans back into the pillows, tugging him down on top of her, “I told you staying here was better than getting up.”

Erik huffs but the corners of his lips tilt up fondly and he moves to kiss her again as she wraps her arms around him tightly. 

Maybe later they will go for a walk.

Or maybe they will stay here all day, wrapped up in each other, safe and content.

The rest of the world can wait.


End file.
